Katherine Bennell-Pegg, first astronaut team member at  the Australian Space Agency - video Dailymotion

The astronaut joined forces with Lego Australia to bring attention to the need for scientific exploration in childhood. Video supplied.

Transcript

00:00Hi, I'm Australian astronaut Katherine Burnell-Pegg,

00:03and I'm here at the European Astronaut Centre in Germany,

00:06where I did my training.

00:08When I was a young girl growing up in Sydney,

00:10I used to love looking up at the stars

00:12through binoculars and a telescope.

00:14But during my training here, we get an even better view.

00:17Space is where imagination, creativity and STEM collide.

00:21It embraces bold ideas,

00:23because bold ideas are how we solve

00:25some of the world's biggest challenges.

00:28Space technology turns our phones into navigation devices,

00:31helps forecast the weather, protect our environment,

00:34even come up with new treatments for diseases like cancer.

00:37When I first dreamed of being an astronaut,

00:39I never thought it would be possible to do it representing Australia.

00:42I didn't even think it was possible to have a space career at home.

00:45But Aussie kids today have the Australian Space Agency to look to,

00:49and our very own moon mission.

00:51Rover, our Aussie-made rover,

00:53will go to the moon later this decade

00:55to collect lunar soil known as regolith.

00:57Regolith simulants, such as volcanic dust and asteroid dust,

01:01have been used to make these special Lego space bricks.

01:04These bricks can help determine

01:06if lunar soil could be used as a resource

01:08to build things similar to Lego play systems, but on the moon.

01:12It's also what we'll need to turn the moon into a launching pad

01:15to take us further into the cosmos and put humans on Mars.

01:19Those humans are sitting in classrooms today,

01:21ready to become the astronauts tomorrow

01:24or one of the huge range of other professionals

01:26we're going to need to make that giant leap.

01:29That's why I, the Australian Space Agency and the Lego Group

01:33are passionate about encouraging them to explore

01:36the limitless possibilities of space through creativity.

01:40The power of imagination is strong,

01:42and because space, even though it is right above us and all around us,

01:46it's still quite abstract.

01:48So I think play is a wonderful way

01:50to help visualise adventures up there

01:52and a way to imagine all the possibilities.